The battle of the New Zealand Super Rugby Americas (SRA) coaches was won by Jake Magrin as Selknam defeated Os Cobras in São Paulo on Sunday. The 27-26 result sees Selknam moving up the standings to overtake champions, Peñarol and, for the time being, also go above Los Capibaras. This may change on Monday depending on how Los Capibaras perform against Los Tarucas.
Selknam’s victory looked likely early on as the Chilean side raced out to a 17-0 lead. Argentine N8, Santiago Montagner scored the opening try following an attacking lineout. Cristóbal Game scored a wonderful try in the left corner minutes later. Matías Garufulic converted both tries and added a penalty, also inside the opening quarter.
Os Cobras opened their account on 24 minutes. Prop Brendon Alves went low to score inside the try zone. Argentine Julián Leszczynski converted in the remaining score inside the opening half of the contest.
The 17-7 half-time score-line was a fair reflection of the match. Os Cobras were competitive in many areas with the scrum being an exception. When Robert Tenório scored on 54 minutes the match deficit was down to three points.
Super-sub, Endy Willian Pìnheiro made an impact as he scored two tries for Os Cobras. The first gave Os Cobras the lead before second-choice Chilean test hooker Augusto Böhme put Selknam back in the lead on 61 minutes.
A nervous final quarter for both teams saw Pinheiro adding his second try. It put Os Cobras back in the lead and it also meant the Brazilian side were guaranteed a bonus point. They looked to saw again only for Domingo Saavedra to win a vital turn-over penalty. Then, minutes later, Selknam turned down a 5 meter scrum to kick for goal. Matías Garafulic put his side back in front.
The final minutes saw Os Cobras deep inside Selknam territory. Over a dozen phases inside the 22 had there team seemingly preparing for a drop-goal for the win; however, Selknam won a turnover penalty to secure the victory. With it, Selknam return to Chile with 4 competition points while Os Cobras secured 2 losing bonus points.
 SCORING |
COBRAS (26)
TRY – B Alves (23′); R Tenório (54′); EW Pinheiro 2 (56′, 67′)
CON – J Leszczynski 3 (24′, 57′, 68′)
YC – A de Melo (61′)
SELKNAM (27)
TRY – S Montagner (5′); C Game (13′); A Böhme (61′)
CON – M Garafulic (6′, 14′, 62′)
PEN – M Garafulic (18′, 78′)
YC – C Armstrong (70′)
| LINE-UPS |
COBRAS
1 Brendon Alves, 2 Santiago Bonavento, 3 Leonel Moreno, 4 Cleber Dias, 5 Hélder Lúcio, 6 Adrio de Melo (capt.), 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Zinedine Booysen, 10 Julián Leszczynski, 11 Robert Tenório, 12 Dion Khumalo, 13 Tasriq Mynhardt, 14 Sérgio Luna, 15 Rosko Specman
Replacements: 16 Endy Willian Pinheiro, 17 João Lucas Marino, 18 Lautaro Facundo, 19 Gabriel Oliveira, 20 Mogomotsi Mokunyane, 21 Maike Lemes, 22 Gustavo Gobeti, 23 Lucas Tranquez
SELKNAM
1 Emilio Shea, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Agustín Toth, 6 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 7 Alfonso Escobar, 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Juan Cruz Reyes, 11 Manuel Bustamante, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Nicolás Saab, 15 Cristobal Game
Replacements: 16 Benjamín Moreno, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Alan Pedrol, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Ernesto Tchimino, 21 Juan Bianchi, 22 Gonzalo Lara, 23 Clemente Armstrong
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
VS
Referee: Gonzalo de Achával (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Federico Longobardi (Argentina); Víctor Hugo Barboza (Brazil)